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Coherent control of Rydberg states in silicon

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Abstract

Laser cooling and electromagnetic traps have led to a revolution in atomic physics, yielding dramatic discoveries ranging from Bose–Einstein condensation to the quantum control of single atoms1. Of particular interest, because they can be used in the quantum control of one atom by another, are excited Rydberg states2,3,4, where wavefunctions are expanded from their ground-state extents of less than 0.1 nm to several nanometres and even beyond; this allows atoms far enough apart to be non-interacting in their ground states to strongly interact in their excited states. For eventual application of such states5, a solid-state implementation is very desirable. Here we demonstrate the coherent control of impurity wavefunctions in the most ubiquitous donor in a semiconductor, namely phosphorus-doped silicon. In our experiments, we use a free-electron laser to stimulate and observe photon echoes6,7, the orbital analogue of the Hahn spin echo8, and Rabi oscillations familiar from magnetic resonance spectroscopy. As well as extending atomic physicists’ explorations1,2,3,9 of quantum phenomena to the solid state, our work adds coherent terahertz radiation, as a particularly precise regulator of orbitals in solids, to the list of controls, such as pressure and chemical composition, already familiar to materials scientists10.

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Figure 1: The principle of the experiment.
Figure 2: Experimental orbital echo detection.
Figure 3: Rabi oscillations.
Figure 4: Comparison of hydrogen and Si:P, showing spectra and the principal excitation and decoherence mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for conversations with A. J. Fisher, A. M. Stoneham, C. Kay and G. Morley; to R. Hulet for pointing out ref. 8; and for experimental assistance from K. Litvinenko and G. Morley. We acknowledge financial support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (COMPASSS, grant reference EP/H026622/1, and Advanced Research Fellowship EP/E061265/1).

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Author notes

  1. N. Q. Vinh

    Present address: Present address: ITST, Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4170, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1H 0AH, UK

    P. T. Greenland, S. A. Lynch & G. Aeppli

  2. FOM Institute for Plasma Physics “Rijnhuizen”, PO Box 1207, NL-3430 BE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands,

    A. F. G. van der Meer, B. Redlich & N. Q. Vinh

  3. Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK

    B. N. Murdin

  4. Department of Physics, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK,

    C. R. Pidgeon

Authors
  1. P. T. Greenland
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  2. S. A. Lynch
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  3. A. F. G. van der Meer
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  4. B. N. Murdin
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  5. C. R. Pidgeon
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  6. B. Redlich
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  7. N. Q. Vinh
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  8. G. Aeppli
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Contributions

N.Q.V. and C.R.P. initiated this work; P.T.G., S.A.L., B.N.M., N.Q.V. and G.A. designed the research programme; N.Q.V., P.T.G., S.A.L., A.F.G.v.d.M. and B.R. performed the experiments; P.T.G. performed the theory and analysis; and P.T.G., B.N.M., S.A.L. and G.A. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to P. T. Greenland.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Greenland, P., Lynch, S., van der Meer, A. et al. Coherent control of Rydberg states in silicon. Nature 465, 1057–1061 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09112

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